Refrigerator

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is a refrigerator which maximally obtains an internal volume and efficiently performs heat radiation of the inner area of a machinery chamber ( 100 ) provided in the upper portion of a main body of the refrigerator.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a refrigerator which efficientlyperforms heat radiation of a machinery chamber, while obtaining aninternal volume.

BACKGROUND ART

In general, a refrigerator is an apparatus which keeps food stored instorage chambers in a frozen or refrigerated state using a four-stagecycle of compression, condensation, expansion, and evaporation of arefrigerant. The refrigerator basically includes a main body providedwith storage chambers, doors provided on the main body to open and closethe storage chambers, a cooling unit provided with an evaporator togenerate cool air, and a machinery chamber provided with devices, suchas a compressor and a condenser.

In the conventional refrigerator, the cooling unit is provided at therear region of the storage chamber, i.e., a refrigerating chamber or afreezing chamber, and the refrigerating chamber or the freezing chamberand the cooling unit are divided from each other by a designateddiaphragm.

Further, the machinery chamber is generally disposed in the rear regionof the lower portion of the storage chamber.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION Technical Problem

In the above conventional refrigerator, the storage chamber and thecooling unit are disposed in the forward and backward direction, andthus the thickness of the main body is inevitably increased. Further,since the machinery chamber is installed on the rear region of the lowerportion of the main body, the lower space of the storage chamber isreduced in proportion to the space of the machinery chamber.

Moreover, various efforts to stably radiate heat of a high temperaturegenerated from the condenser and the compressor provided in themachinery chamber have been made, and technical development to implementthe efforts has been made now.

Solution to Problem

Accordingly, the present disclosure is directed to a refrigerator.

An object of the present disclosure is to provide a refrigerator whichchanges a position of a machinery chamber so as to maximally obtain thespaces of storage chambers and to perform efficient heat radiation ofthe machinery chamber, simultaneously.

Another object of the present disclosure is to provide a refrigeratorwhich effectively disposes components in an inner area of a machinerychamber, and provides various heat radiation channels.

A further object of the present disclosure is to provide a refrigeratorwhich improves workability of a worker in a machinery chamber and easein after-sales service.

To achieve this object and other advantages and in accordance with thepurpose of the disclosure, as embodied and broadly described herein, arefrigerator includes a main body including a freezing chamber and arefrigerating chamber, a machinery chamber provided in the upper portionof the main body, a condenser disposed in a diagonal direction withinthe machinery chamber, a cooling fan disposed adjacent to the condenser,and a compressor disposed so as to be separated from the cooling fan.

The condenser, the cooling fan, and the compressor may be disposedcollinearly.

A cover member provided with communication holes formed through thefront surface thereof may be installed on the machinery chamber.

An inner area of the machinery chamber may be divided into an air flowregion in which outdoor air flows through the communication holes, andan air non-flow region in which the outdoor air does not flow.

The condenser, the cooling fan, and the compressor may be disposed inthe air flow region.

A machinery chamber controller may be disposed in the air non-flowregion.

The inner area of the machinery chamber may be divided into the air flowregion and the air non-flow region by air guides.

The air guides may include a first air guide to divide the air flowregion and the air non-flow region from each other, and a second airguide to divide the air flow region.

The second air guide may serve to separate the outdoor air introducedthrough the cover member and air heat-exchanged with the compressor.

The air guides may further include a third air guide separately locatedat the outside of the compressor.

The third air guide may be rounded toward the compressor so as toconvert a flow of the heat-exchanged air with the compressor into adirection toward the cover member.

The air flow region of the machinery chamber may include a first chamberto which the outdoor air is introduced, and a second chamber into whichair heat-exchanged with the compressor flows through the cooling fan.

In another aspect of the present disclosure, a refrigerator includes amain body including a freezing chamber and a refrigerating chamber, amachinery chamber provided in the upper portion of the main body, acover member installed in front of the machinery chamber, and providedwith communication holes, a condenser disposed opposite to thecommunication holes, a cooling fan disposed adjacent to the condenser, acompressor disposed so as to be separated from the cooling fan, and airguides to guide a flow of outdoor air introduced into the machinerychamber through the communication holes.

The air guides may include a fourth air guide provided with one endconnected to the front surface of the condenser and the other endextended toward the cover member, a fifth air guide disposed within themachinery chamber so as to convert a flow of air discharged through thecooling fan into a direction toward the compressor, and a sixth airguide to convert the direction of heat-exchanged air with the compressorso as to discharge the heat-exchanged air to the outside through thecover member.

The main body may further include cooling units disposed in the upperportion of the main body adjacent to the machinery chamber to supplycool air to the refrigerating chamber and the freezing chamber, and amachinery chamber controller may be disposed on the front surface of oneof the cooling units.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description of the present disclosure areexemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide furtherexplanation of the disclosure as claimed.

Advantageous Effects of Invention

Further, the refrigerator in accordance with the present disclosureprevents mixing of fresh outdoor air introduced into the machinerychamber and heat-exchanged air, but allows the outdoor air and theheat-exchanged air to respectively flow within separate regions.

Moreover, the refrigerator in accordance with the present disclosureimproves workability of a worker and accessibility of the worker to amachinery chamber controller when the machinery chamber controllermalfunctions.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and variations can be made in the present disclosurewithout departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosures. Thus, itis intended that the present disclosure covers the modifications andvariations of this disclosure provided they come within the scope of theappended claims and their equivalents.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a furtherunderstanding of the disclosure and are incorporated in and constitute apart of this application, illustrate embodiment(s) of the disclosure andtogether with the description serve to explain the principle of thedisclosure. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a refrigerator in accordancewith a first embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a plan view illustrating a machinery chamber and a coolingunit provided in the refrigerator in accordance with the embodiment ofthe present disclosure;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are plan views illustrating a refrigerator in accordancewith a second embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 5 to 7 are views illustrating operating states of therefrigerators in accordance with the embodiments of the presentdisclosure; and

FIG. 8 shows graphs comparing air volumes of cooling fans of therefrigerators in accordance with the respective embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present disclosure will bedescribed in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, a refrigerator in accordance with afirst embodiment of the present disclosure includes a main body 1provided with a freezing chamber 10 and a refrigerating chamber 20, amachinery chamber 100 provided in the upper portion of the main body 1,and cooling units 1000 and 1000′ disposed at both sides of the machinerychamber 100 adjacent to the machinery chamber 100.

Within the machinery chamber 100, a condenser 200 is disposed in adiagonal direction, a cooling fan 300 is disposed adjacent to thecondenser 200, and a compressor 400 separated from the cooling fan 300is disposed.

The condenser, the cooling fan 300, and the compressor 400 are disposedcollinearly in the diagonal direction, and the condenser 200 and thecooling fan 300 are disposed within the machinery chamber 100 under thecondition that the condenser 200 and the cooling fan 300 are connectedto form one set.

A cover member 500 provided with communication holes 510 formed throughthe front surface thereof is installed in front of the machinery chamber100. The communication holes 510 include a first communication hole 512through which outdoor air is introduced into the machinery chamber 100,and a second communication hole 514 through which the air is dischargedfrom the machinery chamber 100 to the outside of the cover member 500.

An inner area A of the machinery chamber 100 is divided into an air flowregion a1 where outdoor air flows and an air non-flow region a2 wherethe outdoor air does not flow.

The condenser 200, the cooling fan 300, and the compressor 400 aredisposed in the air flow region a1, and a machinery chamber controller600 to control the cooling fan 300 and the compressor 400 is disposed inthe air non-flow region a2.

The air non-flow region a2 is a region into which the outdoor air is notintroduced, and a PCB substrate and an electronic element sensitive totemperature changes are disposed in the air non-flow region a2.

The reason for the division of the inner area A of the machinery chamber100 into the air flow region a1 and the air non-flow region a2 is tomaximally use the limited inner area A of the machinery chamber 100, toefficiently radiate heat of a high temperature generated from thecondenser 200 and the compressor 400, and to provide heat radiationchannels having the shortest distance through disposition of thecondenser 200, the cooling fan 300, and the compressor 400.

The inner area A of the machinery chamber 100 is divided into the airflow region a1 and the air non-flow region a2 by air guides 700.

The air guides 700 include a first air guide 710 to divide the air flowregion a1 and the air non-flow region a2 from each other, and a secondair guide 720 to divide the air flow region a1.

The first air guide 710 is installed so as to divide the air non-flowregion a2 located at the upper portion of the left side, based on theplan surface of the machinery chamber 100, from the air flow region a1,and the second air guide 720 is installed so as to prevent mixingoutdoor air introduced into the machinery chamber 100 through the covermember 500 and air of a high temperature, obtained through heat-exchangewith the compressor 400.

Since the outdoor air has a relatively low temperature compared with theheat-exchanged air, prevention of mixing of the outdoor air introducedinto the machinery chamber 100 to perform heat radiation of the insideof the machinery chamber 100 and the heat-exchanged air is moreeffective in heat radiation of the inside of the machinery chamber 100.

The first air guide 710 is a kind of separator provided to maximallyprevent the machinery chamber controller 600 from being exposed to ahigh temperature environment in the machinery chamber 100, and thesecond air guide 720 is a kind of separator provided to separate theoutdoor air prior to heat exchange with the condenser 200 and theheat-exchanged air of a high temperature state from each other withoutmixing.

The air guides 700 in accordance with the present disclosure furtherinclude a third air guide 730 disposed collinearly with the compressor400.

The third air guide 730 guides a flow of air heat-exchanged with thecompressor 400 so as to discharge the heat-exchanged air to the outsideof the machinery chamber 100 through the second communication hole 514provided on the cover member 500.

The air flow region a1 is divided into a first chamber a1′ and a secondchamber a1″.

The first chamber a1′ into which fresh outdoor air is introduced, meansa region from the first communication hole 512 to the front surface ofthe condenser 200.

The second chamber a1″ to which the air heat-exchanged with thecondenser 200, the cooling fan 300, and the compressor 400 flows, is aseparated region divided from the first chamber a1′.

With reference to FIG. 3, a refrigerator in accordance with a secondembodiment of the present disclosure includes a main body 1 providedwith a freezing chamber 10 and a refrigerating chamber 20, a machinerychamber 100 provided in the upper portion of the main body 1, a covermember 500 installed in front of the machinery chamber 100 and providedwith communication holes 510, a condenser 200 disposed opposite to thecommunication holes 510, a cooling fan 300 disposed adjacent to thecondenser 200, a compressor 400 separated from the cooling fan 300, andair guides 800 to guide a flow of outdoor air so as to allow the outdoorair introduced into the machinery chamber 100 through the communicationholes 510 to be transferred to the condenser 200.

In the refrigerator in accordance with this embodiment, the condenser200, the cooling fan 300, and the compressor 400 are disposed oppositeto the cover member 500, such that outdoor air introduced into themachinery chamber 100 through the cover member 500 does not flow in thediagonal direction, but flows by the shortest distance to be introducedinto the condenser 200.

The air guides 800 include a fourth air guide 810 provided with one endconnected to the front surface of the condenser 200 and the other endextended toward the cover member 500.

The fourth air guide 810 divides the inside of the machinery chamber 100so as to enable the outdoor air introduced into the machinery chamber100 through the communication holes 510 to flow to the condenser 200 assoon as possible without heat loss.

A fifth air guide 820 to convert a flow of air discharged from thecooling fan 300 into a direction toward the compressor 400 is installedwithin the machinery chamber 100. In more detail, the fifth air guide820 is disposed at a position opposite to the cooling fan 300, i.e., atthe upper corner of the left side of the machinery chamber 100.

The fifth air guide 820 has an arc shape rounded toward the cooling fan300.

A sixth air guide 830 converts a flow direction of air heat-exchangedwith the compressor 300 so as to discharge the heat-exchanged air to theoutside through the cover member 500.

The fifth air guide 820 and the sixth air guide 830 are disposedopposite to each other.

Because the heat-exchanged air flowing toward the compressor 400 throughthe fifth air guide 820 stably flows toward the cover member 500 via thecompressor 400.

With reference to FIG. 4, the refrigerator in accordance with thisembodiment further includes cooling units 1000 and 1000′ disposed in theupper portion of the main body 1 adjacent to the machinery chamber 100to supply cool air to the refrigerating chamber 20 and the freezingchamber 10, and a machinery chamber controller 900 is disposed on thefront surface of the cooling unit 1000.

That is, if the refrigerator is out of order, when a worker located infront of the refrigerator simply opens the cover member 500, themachinery chamber controller 900 located on the front surface of thecooling unit 1000 is exposed to the outside, thus being easily repairedas well as improving workability of the worker.

Hereinafter, operating states of the refrigerators in accordance withthe embodiments of the present disclosure will be described withreference to the accompanying drawings.

The first embodiment of the present disclosure illustrates therefrigerator operated under the condition that the condenser, thecooling fan, and the compressor are installed in the diagonal directionwithin the machinery chamber.

With reference to FIGS. 1 to 5, the refrigerator in accordance with thepresent disclosure is operated under the condition that the machinerychamber 100 and the cooling units 1000 and 1000′ are disposed in theupper portion of the main body 1.

The cooling units 1000 and 1000′ are provided to independently cool thefreezing chamber 10 and the refrigerating chamber 20, and each of thecooling units 1000 and 1000′ is provided with an evaporator (not shown)and a cool air fan (not shown) installed therein.

In the machinery chamber 100, in order to transfer a refrigerant to thecooling units 1000 and 1000′, the compressor 400 is operated, and therefrigerant in a high-temperature and high-pressure state compressed bythe compressor 400 is transferred to the condenser 200.

As the condenser 200 performs phase change of the refrigerant in thehigh-temperature and high-pressure state, the inner area A of themachinery chamber 100 is changed into a relatively high-temperaturestate.

The machinery chamber controller 600 operates the cooling fan 300 toperform heat radiation of the condenser 200. As the cooling fan 300 isoperated, fresh outdoor air is introduced into the first chamber a1′through the first communication hole 512 provided on the cover member500. The first chamber a1′ is a part of the air flow region a1 intowhich the outdoor air is introduced, and as shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, theoutdoor air is introduced into the first chamber a1′ through the firstcommunication hole 512 by suction force of the cooling fan 300.

The outdoor air passes through the condenser 200 and the cooling fan300, and then flows to the second chamber a1″ where the compressor 400is located.

The compressor 400 radiating heat of a high temperature is disposed inthe second chamber a1″. While the outdoor air having flowed to thesecond chamber a1″ through the first chamber a1′ passes through thecompressor 400, the outdoor air exchanges heat with the compressor 400,and is converted into the heat-exchanged air having a higher temperaturethan that of the outdoor air introduced into the first chamber a1′.

The heat-exchanged air flows toward the front cover 500 via the thirdair guide 730, and is discharged to the outside through the secondcommunication hole 514.

While the heat-exchanged air is discharged to the outside through thesecond communication hole 514, the heat-exchanged air does not flowtoward the first chamber a1′ or is not mixed with the outdoor unitintroduced into the first chamber a1′, but is stably discharged to theoutside of the cover member 500.

Here, since the machinery chamber controller 600 is installed in the airnon-flow region a2, the machinery chamber controller 600 is notinfluenced by the outdoor air or the heat-exchanged air flowing withinthe air flow region a1, thereby preventing malfunction of the machinerychamber controller 600 due to temperature changes and burn-out of theelectronic element.

The second embodiment of the present disclosure illustrates therefrigerator operated under the condition that the condenser and thecooling fan are installed on a straight line within the machinerychamber.

With reference to FIG. 6, the condenser 200 and the cooling fan 300 aredisposed opposite to the cover member 500, and the first communicationhole 512 of the cover member 500 and the condenser 200 are disposedopposite to each other. The machinery chamber controller 600′ isinstalled separately from the machinery chamber 100.

When the refrigerator is operated, the compressor 400 transfers arefrigerant in a high-temperature and high-pressure state to thecondenser 200, and the condenser 200 discharges heat of a hightemperature to the inside of the machinery chamber 100.

Simultaneously, the machinery chamber controller 600′ operates thecooling fan 300, and thus transfers outdoor air introduced through thefirst communication hole 510 to the condenser 200 so as to perform heatradiation of the condenser 200, and then discharges the air toward thecompressor 400 provided in the machinery chamber 100.

The fourth air guide 810 installed in the machinery chamber 100 dividesthe inner area of the machinery chamber 100 so as to performheat-exchange of all amount of the outdoor air introduced through thefirst communication hole 512 with the condenser 200, and prevents mixingof the outdoor air in a relatively low-temperature state and theheat-exchanged air changed into a relatively high-temperature state viathe compressor 400.

As shown in FIG. 6, while the outdoor air having passed through thecooling fan 300 is discharged to the inside of the machinery chamber100, the direction of the outdoor air is converted into a directiontoward the compressor 400 by the fifth air guide 820.

The outdoor air radiates heat of the compressor 400, and is dischargedto the outside of the machinery chamber 100 through the sixth air guide830 and the second communication hole 514 of the front cover 500.

Hereinafter, a disposition state of a machinery chamber controller inaccordance with the present disclosure will be described.

With reference to FIG. 7, the machinery chamber controller 900 inaccordance with the present disclosure is disposed in the horizontaldirection on the front surface of the cooling unit 1000 so as to improveworkability of a worker and perform self heat radiation.

In this case, if repair of the refrigerator is required, a worker easilyapproaches the machinery chamber controller 900 under the condition thatthe front cover 500 is opened, thereby being capable of rapidly andeasily repairing the refrigerator.

Now, air volumes of the cooling fans of the refrigerators in accordancewith the respective embodiments of the present disclosure will bedescribed with reference to FIG. 8.

In FIG. 8, the X-axis represents voltage applied to the cooling fans,the Y-axis represents air volumes of the cooling fans, a graph expressedby a solid line represents air volumes of the cooling fan in accordancewith the first embodiment (in which the condenser, the cooling fan, andthe compressor are installed collinearly in a diagonal direction withinthe machinery chamber), and a graph expressed by a dotted linerepresents air volumes of the cooling fan in accordance with the secondembodiment.

With reference to FIG. 8, when the same voltage is applied to thecooling fans in accordance with the respective embodiments, there is nogreat difference between the air volume of the cooling fan 300 inaccordance with the second embodiment in which the cooling fan 300 andthe condenser 200 are installed on a straight line and the air volume ofthe cooling fan in accordance with the first embodiment in which thecooling fan 300 and the condenser 200 are installed collinearly in thediagonal direction.

Therefore, although the condenser 200 and the cooling fan 300 aredisposed in the diagonal direction or on the straight line, heatradiation may be effectively performed while obtaining a stable airvolume of the cooling fan 300.

As is apparent from the above description, a refrigerator in accordancewith the present disclosure changes a lay-out of components disposedwithin a machinery chamber so as to be favorable to heat radiation,thereby efficiently achieving heat radiation.

1. A refrigerator comprising: a main body including a freezing chamberand a refrigerating chamber; a machinery chamber provided in the upperportion of the main body; a condenser disposed in a diagonal directionwithin the machinery chamber; a cooling fan disposed adjacent to thecondenser; and a compressor disposed so as to be separated from thecooling fan.
 2. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein thecondenser, the cooling fan, and the compressor are disposed collinearly.3. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein a cover memberprovided with communication holes formed through the front surfacethereof is installed on the machinery chamber.
 4. The refrigeratoraccording to claim 3, wherein an inner area of the machinery chamber isdivided into an air flow region in which outdoor air flows through thecommunication holes, and an air non-flow region in which the outdoor airdoes not flow.
 5. The refrigerator according to claim 4, wherein thecondenser, the cooling fan, and the compressor are disposed in the airflow region.
 6. The refrigerator according to claim 4, wherein amachinery chamber controller is disposed in the air non-flow region. 7.The refrigerator according to claim 4, wherein the inner area of themachinery chamber is divided into the air flow region and the airnon-flow region by air guides.
 8. The refrigerator according to claim 7,wherein the air guides include: a first air guide to divide the air flowregion and the air non-flow region from each other; and a second airguide to divide the air flow region.
 9. The refrigerator according toclaim 8, wherein the second air guide serves to separate the outdoor airintroduced through the cover member and air heat-exchanged with thecompressor.
 10. The refrigerator according to claim 7, wherein the airguides further include a third air guide separately located at theoutside of the compressor.
 11. The refrigerator according to claim 10,wherein the third air guide is rounded toward the compressor so as toconvert a flow of the heat-exchanged air with the compressor into adirection toward the cover member.
 12. The refrigerator according toclaim 4, wherein the air flow region of the machinery chamber includes afirst chamber to which the outdoor air is introduced, and a secondchamber into which air heat-exchanged with the compressor flows throughthe cooling fan.
 13. A refrigerator comprising: a main body including afreezing chamber and a refrigerating chamber; a machinery chamberprovided in the upper portion of the main body; a cover member installedin front of the machinery chamber, and provided with communicationholes; a condenser disposed opposite to the communication holes; acooling fan disposed adjacent to the condenser; a compressor disposed soas to be separated from the cooling fan; and air guides to guide a flowof outdoor air introduced into the machinery chamber through thecommunication holes.
 14. The refrigerator according to claim 13, whereinthe air guides include: a fourth air guide provided with one endconnected to the front surface of the condenser and the other endextended toward the cover member; a fifth air guide disposed within themachinery chamber so as to convert a flow of air discharged through thecooling fan into a direction toward the compressor; and a sixth airguide to convert the direction of heat-exchanged air with the compressorso as to discharge the heat-exchanged air to the outside through thecover member.
 15. The refrigerator according to claim 13, wherein: themain body further includes cooling units disposed in the upper portionof the main body adjacent to the machinery chamber to supply cool air tothe refrigerating chamber and the freezing chamber; and a machinerychamber controller is disposed on the front surface of one of thecooling units.